Brian Caffarey - 27th March 2013

Nuneaton Town v Woking
7.45pm on Thursday 28 March 2013

The Cards continue their hectic schedule with a hastily-rearranged trip to Nuneaton Town tomorrow (Thursday) evening: the game was originally due to have been played last Saturday. The side may be leg-weary but confidence will be high after a superb 2-2 draw at league leaders Kidderminster Harriers on Tuesday evening. But they will be up against a Nuneaton side desperate to grab points to avoid a quick return to the Conference North and to gain some revenge for the 6-1 hammering they received at Kingfield earlier in the season. Don’t forget that it’s Hereford United at home on Saturday, with free entry for U16s!

WOKING

Garry Hill’s side did fantastically well to gain a point at Kidderminster, who had won nine out of their last ten games, including six straight wins at home. The Cards showed just how far they’ve come this season: far from being over-awed, they attempted to match arguably the best footballing side in the league and managed to take the game to the Harriers for significant periods.

Garry had the luxury of being able to field both Billy Knott and Lee Sawyer in midfield: so often, one or the other has been missing. When you add in the sublime skills of Kevin Betsy and the superb harrying of Mark Ricketts and the ever-improving Jack Parkinson (missing on Tuesday), that’s a midfield line-up to savour! It must remind Thommo of the Woking sides which he graced.

NUNEATON TOWN

Tuesday evening’s 1-0 defeat at Mansfield Town saw Nuneaton slip back into the bottom four, two points adrift of Stockport but with a game in hand. Before that Nuneaton had notched some impressive results, especially at home: a 0-0 draw against Luton and 1-0 wins over Lincoln and, the previous Tuesday, Grimsby Town (the Mariners’ fourth consecutive defeat). The defeat at Mansfield was only their first in their last six league games. Nuneaton’s run-in to the end of the season includes fixtures against quite a few of the clubs who are also fighting to avoid the drop, so their fate is very much in their own hands.

Their record shows that they are quite a difficult nut to crack on their home territory: they’ve won seven, drawn eight and lost only five games at home, scoring 25 goals and conceding 22.

Nuneaton have recently brought in Louis Moult from Northampton Town on loan. Strikers include Kyle Perry, who notched 17 goals for Tamworth the season before last.

By car
Exit the M6 at Junction 3 and follow the A444 into Nuneaton. At the Coton Arches roundabout turn right into Avenue Road, which is the A4254 signposted for Hinckley. Continue along the A4254 following the road into Garrett Street, then Eastboro Way, then turn left into Townsend Drive. Follow the road round before turning left into Liberty Way for the ground. There is parking at the ground at a cost of £2.

By train
The nearest station is Nuneaton. It’s just about feasible to do the journey there and back by train on Thursday. The 17.10 from Euston arrives at 18.11, or, cutting it very fine, the 18.10 gets in at 19.12. Returning, you’d have to make sure to get the 22.17, arriving at Euston at 23.56.

The ground is about a 30-minute walk from the station or there are taxis available.

ADMISSION PRICES

Adults: £14
Concessions: £10
12-16s: £5
Under 5-11s: £2

Woking fans will be in the fully-covered West Stand.

LAST TIME OUT

Woking 6 Nuneaton Town 1
6 September 2012

This was the perfect response to four consecutive defeats, calming the nerves of Cards fans and, as it turned out, paving the way for the Cards’ first away win the following weekend, at Stockport. Garry changed things round a bit, bringing in Adam Doyle and Dean Sinclair to start, along with Bradley Bubb returning from injury. And it was Bradley who made the headlines the following day with four second-half goals.

There was not much sign of this avalanche of goals in the first half as the visitors brought several excellent saves out of Aaron Howe before a quick break out of defence in the 25th minute saw Gavin McCallum finish sweetly to give the Cards the lead. This was doubled just before the interval when Lee Sawyer finished another break by Bradley and Kevin Betsy.

It was the ‘Bradley Bubb show’ in the second half as the Aldershot loanee displayed his best finishing skills. But Aaron Howe was also in good form, saving a penalty before, much to his annoyance, the Woking defence parted to allow Nuneaton to grab a late consolation goal.

The Cards have a very attractive home fixture against Hereford United this Saturday, with all U16s being admitted free. There are only four more home games left, so make a date with Kingfield on Saturday afternoon!